Dear St John’s Community,

Today is the Feast Day of St Mary MacKillop, or St Mary of the Cross, Australia's first and only saint. The motto for this day is 'Be Fierce for Fair' to encourage Catholics to be fierce in the face of adversity and fair when we see injustice.

Saint Mary founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866, and their mission was to serve the poor and educate underprivileged children.

We honour Mary as Australia's first saint, and for the commitment she espoused to education. She is often quoted as saying, 'Never see a need without trying to do something about it.'

This is one of my favourites of hers; Let us rest from the busyness of our day and take some moments to quieten ourselves and to be present to this moment.... There, where you are, you will find God.

Sisters of the Sacred Heart Blessing

May the blessings of our hospitable God be among us, abundant, overflowing, extravagant, spreading over all.

May the blessings of St Joseph rest well with us wherever we are called to be Josephite in the world, especially in Australia, Brazil, East Timor, Ireland, New Zealand, Peru and Scotland.

May the blessings of our Father Julian Woods grow in us a great love and curiosity about the landscapes of Earth, and appreciation of the down-to-earthiness of our lives.

May the blessings of our patron, John the Baptist, sustain us with a heart for mission until our last breath in making the cause of the poor our cause.

May the blessings of the prophet Habbukuk encourage us with a vision for this time and patient working out its interpretations.

May the blessings of the charism fire us anew with generosity and openness, stretching our imaginations to see its new forms.

May the blessings of our Good God, remain with us always. Amen.

As you may be aware, Mr O has returned and he's not skippy! I mean he thinks the kids are not in skipping form yet! We've pushed back the Skipathon to hone up their skills!

The Skipathon will now take place on Friday, 5th September, during the day at school. Every student is able to participate on the day, and if parents would like to test themselves, they are welcome to join in as well!

For every $20 raised by a student, they will receive 1 ticket into the draw to win a bike. There is a prize to be won for the juniors (P-2), middles (3-4) and the seniors (5-6).

Anyone can donate to the Skipathon via Trybooking

Important Note: When completing your donation, please include the name of the child it is for rather than your name on the receipt. If you forget, just let the office know and they can allocate the child's name to the donation for you.

Mobile phones, digital watches, internet capable jewellery

Phones, watches and even a digital ring are appearing at school more often than not. I must make it very clear that school and MACS policy on digital, internet capable devices and/or any type of recording devices state that they are not permitted to be used, worn or accessed during school hours. Any such devices must be left in the office at the start of the school day and can be collected at the end of the school day. If a student is discovered to be in possession of one of these devices at school it will be confiscated and placed in the office.

Kiss n Go - pick up/drop off

Just a quick reminder to parents that at pick up and drop off times in the morning and afternoon you are not permitted to leave your vehicle to walk into the school.

Also, if you arrive prior to 3pm you must contact the office and we will send your child out to you rather than parking for an extended time waiting in the drive through.

St John's Footy Tips

A few late charges! And guess what, after last week, Mr Aron is sitting in the top 30 tipsters in Australia! We won't let him play again! Teehee

Top 10 Footy Tips

1 - JARON96 139

2 – JESSA1923 135

3 - Mr B 134

4 – ASHFOUDY 134

5 – Mr LEFEBVRE 133

6 – MISSBNG2014 131

7 – EZNDAZ 130

8 – TOONAUSSIE 129

9 – MATT-LEDGER 128

10 – MASTERPNG2018 128

School Uniform Reminder

Just to clarify for everyone, we no longer have a Summer and Winter uniform. There is only a School Uniform and a Sport Uniform.

Winter's almost over!

Derek Bruitzman

Principal

Jokes of the week: (These are bad, I know!)

Q. Wy are trees great at networking?

A. They're always branching out!

Q. What did the tree like best about Star Trek?

A. The Captain's Log

Q. Did you know that Dogwood trees make great pets?

A. Its because they have a great bark but wooden bite...

Fun facts of the week:

Try this one - adding salt to pineapple makes it taste sweet!

Human hearts will sync to the rhythm of music you listen too. Blood pressure and heart rate often changes with the crescendos and decrescendos of the music!

This ones a bit icky! The air in a typical train or bus contains 15% human skin. When you look through a sunbeam and see dust motes, 80% of those are human skin too! erk...

Book Week 2025